In testing and mounting semiconductor devices, it is necessary that the leads of the device be correctly positioned and the ends of the leads lie in a common plane. The leads of the semiconductor device may be bent side ways, out, in or down moving the end of the pin from a plane common with the ends of the other pins.
Existing planarity inspection equipment is either not cost-effective or performs the inspection "off-line" as in a quality control operation. The hardware required for off-line inspection is inexpensive, however, the inspection is done manually, lead by lead, making 100% inspection time consuming as well as cost prohibitive. Automatic equipment which can be used for on-line inspection is actually stand-alone equipment integrated with the other processing equipment. Such equipment is typically visual/mechanical systems using laser or intelligent camera hardware, making such systems very expensive. The laser system is used to check device-to-circuit board solder joints instead of device lead planarity. There is presently no known system capable of on-line lead inspection and replanarization.